Safety blasting-barrel.



B. WHITMAN. SAFETY BLASTING BARREL. APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1906.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

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EDWARD WHITMAN, 'OF DENVER, COLORADO.

SAFE TY BLAS'IING-B ARREL.

Application filed May 1a, 1906.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

Serial No. 317,639.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W HITMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, haveinvented certain new and useful Im rovements in Safety Blasting-Barrels;an I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanyin drawings, and to the letters and figures of re 'erencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to im safety blastin devices, my 0 revent the orceof the exp rom blowing out the tamping.

In my improved device I provide an air space between the charge and thetamping whereby the force of the charge is cushioned by the air withinsaid s ace or chamber and this yielding capacity 0' the air prevents theforce of the ex losion from acting upon the tamping and lowing out thesame, thus causing the full force of the explosion to act on the rock orother material which it is desired to break from the body of the massinto which the blasting hole is formed.

In my im rovement the barrel or tube through whic the fire from thesquib asses to the char e of explosive, is provide with an adjustabIeabutment ada ted to close the drill hole and form a stop or the tampingmaterial which cannot pass the abutment. Between the abutment and "thecharge the drill hole is free, constituting an air chamber. U on thebarrel is also mounted a stop adapted to engage the breast of thematerial and prevent the barrel from being driven into the drill holeduring the operation of tamping against the abutment.

Another feature of my improvement consists in providing a guard plate inthe rear of the outer extremity of the barrel, to prevent the burningsquib from being blown outwardly to any considerable distance from thebreast of the coal or other material.

Having briefly outlined my im roved construction, I will proceed todescri e the same in detail reference bein made to the accompanyingdrawing in w ich is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawin Figure 1 is a sectional view taken throug the rock showinmy improved safety blasting barrel in pIace, also 7 ovements in feetbeing to oded charge a cartridge containing a charge of explosive thesame being shown attached to the inner extremity of the barrel. Fig. 2is a view illustrating my improved device shown on a larger scale, thesame being partly broken away and partly sectionized. In this view therock in which the drill hole is formed is indicated by dotted lines.Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 Fig. 1 viewed in the directionof the arrow. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 Big. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the coal or material to be broken down bythe force of the blasting charge. In this material is formed a hole 6 inwhich is inserted a cartridge 7 containing a quantity of explosivematerial 8. In order to insert this cartridge, it is attached to theinner extremity of the tube or barrel 9 as shown at 10. This attachmentis made just in the rear of an opening 12 in the barrel, this openingcommunicating with the explosive material in order to allow the firefrom the squib which is placed in the outer extremity of the barrel, toexplode the charge.

Mounted upon the barrel at a suitable point in the rear of the cartridgeis an abutment 13 consisting of a sleeve 14, and a plate 15 arranged tofill the drill hole, the diameter of which in Fig. 2 is indicated by thedotted lines 16.

Threaded in the sleeve 14 of the abutment is a set screw 17 adapted tosecure the abut ment in any desired location upon the barrel. Thelocation of the abutment is determined by the length of the air spacewhich it is desired to leave between the explosive charge or cartridgeand the inner extremity of the tamping. This air space may be regulatedto suit the purpose. It is believed that under ordinary circumstances itshould be approximately of a length equal to the len th of the explosivecharge though this WilI be determined by experiment or by the judgmentof the operator. Upon this barrel is also adjustabl mounted a stop 18adapted to engage the breast 19 of the rock and prevent the barrel frommoving inwardly farther than is required. This stop 18 is locked inplace on the barrel in any suitable manner. In this instance awedgeshaped key 20 is employed, the same being inserted in a recessformed in the sto adjacent the circular opening through whicli barrel tothe explosive charge.

the barrel passes. Between the abutment late 15 and the outer extremityof the drill liole, the tamping 21 is placed. Beyond the stop 18 andattached to the outer open ex tremity of the barrel is a plate or crosspiece 22 provided with a central opening and threaded upon the barrel.To the plate 22 is attached a plate or cross piece 23 by means ofparallel rods 24. The plate 28 is located directly in the rear of theouter extremity of the barrel and forms a stop to prevent the fire fromthe s uib from passing to any distance beyond tie breast of the rock.The plate 23 constitutes a safety device whereby any fire which may havea tendency through the force of the explosion to pass rearwardly intothe mine, is prevented from doing so.

From the foregoing descri tion the use and operation of my improve safetblasting barrel will be readily understoo In the first place thecartridge 7 containing the explosive charge 8 is tied or fastened to theinner portion of the barrel in the rear of the opening 12. The barrel isthen inserted into tie drill hole of the rock and the blasting chargedeposited at the inner extremity of said hole. Before inserting thecharge, the abutment 13 is adjusted upon the barrel and fastened inorder to leave the necessary air space A between the outer extremity ofthe explosive charge and the abutment. The stop 18 is then looked inplace so that it shall engage the breast of the rock and revent thebarrel from moving inwardly fart er than is desired. The tampingmaterial is then driven into the hole in the rear of the abutmentwhereby this portion of the hole is tightly filled. The squib B which isinserted in the outer extremity of the barrel is then lighted and thefire conducted through the As soon as the explosion takes lace its forceis cushioned on the air Within the chamber A, thus preventing theexplosive force from blowing out the tamping. The abutment 15 iseccentrically arranged on the barrel 9 whereby the latter is permittedto occu y a position close to the wall of the drill ho e thus giving abetter opportunit for introducing the tam ing material to tl ie drillhole than would be t e case if the abutment were concentric with thebarrel. Attention is also called to the fact that the stop 18 isconnected with the barrel in such a manner that it engages the breast ofthe rock beyond the drill hole leaving the latter open for theintroduction of the tamping material.

While this device is more especially intended for use in coal mining, itmust be un derstood that it may be employed in other relations wheremore solid material as vari ous kinds of rock are to be mined byblasting.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A blasting barrel provided with an abutment located intermediate itsextremi ties, the barrel assing through the abutment outside of t elatters center, whereby it is eccentrically arranged thereon, and a stopadjustably mounted on the barrel in the rear of the abutment andro'ecting laterally therefrom to engage t e reast of the rock withoutobstructing the outer open extremity of the drill hole.

2. The combination with a blasting barrel, of an abutment consisting ofa plate and a sleeve located outside of its center, the barrel passingthrough the sleeve of the abut ment, and means connected with the sleevefor adjustably fastening the abutment in place upon the barrel.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWARD WHITMAN.

Witnesses:

DENA NELSON, A. J. O'BRIEN.

